become the anger; anxiety arises and we become the anxiety

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Mindfulness is a powerful tool for resolving the underlying emotions that generate depression. Peter Strong, author of 'The Path of Mindfulness Meditation', gives an overview of how mindfulness therapy works.

become the anger; anxiety arises and we become the anxiety

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Mindfulness is a powerful tool for resolving the underlying emotions that generate depression. Peter Strong, author of 'The Path of Mindfulness Meditation', gives an overview of how mindfulness therapy works.

Mindfulness Meditation Therapy for Overcoming Depression

Depression and recurrent anxiety are only too common problems that affect us allat various times during our lives and many of us feel the need to learn better waysof working with our feelings and negative patterns of thinking and seek the help ofa psychotherapist.When clients suffering with depression and anxiety come to me for mindfulnesspsychotherapy, the two central issues that I encounter time after time are: 1) Theproblem of Habitual Emotional Reactivity, and 2) The need to learn how to relate tothe inner feelings that power the habitual reactivity.

We tend to be completely unaware of our habitual reactivity, and become victims,

condemned to repeat the same reaction over and over again. This is a fundamentalproblem that lies at the root of our anxiety and depression. Therefore, the very firsttask of the psychotherapist is to teach the client to become aware of his reactivityso that he can begin the process of changing old patterns into new and morefunctional responses. This RECOGNITION phase is an essential part of successfultherapy and starts the process through which the client begins to break free frombeing the victim of his own conditioning. After gaining experience in recognizing reactivity, the next phase of cognitivetherapy is to convince the client that he has choice in how he responds. Most of usare convinced that the reason we feel bad, upset, angry or depressed lies outside. Iam upset because he let me down. I am anxious because my job may beterminated. I am angry because she said very unkind words. We blindly acceptthese causal connections, not realizing that there is actually no law that connectsthe cause and effect. It may be reasonable to feel these emotions, but notinevitable. In effect we do have choice and we need to fully understand this and notblindly submit to having to suffer because things don’t go the way we want.The next preliminary phase of cognitive therapy involves converting the emotioninto an object to which we can relate and investigate objectively. This veryimportant process is called reframing. Instead of saying, “I am depressed,” wechange it into, “I notice a feeling of depression that has arisen in me.” Whateverthe emotion, we try to take the “I” out of it and start to see it as a mental objectthat has arisen. This simple process of reframing helps us break the blindidentification with the emotion, and establishes some sense of separation thatprevents us form being overwhelmed and becoming reactive. The essential problem of habitual reactivity is the combination of basicunawareness, on the one hand, combined with the compulsive emotional impulsethat makes us become the emotion. He says something unkind and we become theemotional reaction of being upset. An emotion of anger arises and we blindlybecome the anger; anxiety arises and we become the anxiety.

Mindfulness as taught in Mindfulness Psychotherapy and Mindfulness Meditation

Therapy, is a particular awareness skill that teaches us to be aware of what ishappening while it is happening. Through diligent practice, we begin to recognizereactions as they arise form moment to moment throughout the day. We thenrespond to the reaction with the simple formula: STOP, LOOK and LISTEN. When areaction arises we simply greet it with: “No. Not now. I choose not to go down thatpath.” In the very act of recognition of a reaction, we are given a brief moment ofchoice when we can stop. The habit to react may be very ingrained, but throughconstant practice, we can begin to open up this space in which there is choice.This is the active part of mindfulness. However, we don’t stop there, but in thatmoment of recognition, we choose to respond and form a relationship with theemotion. This is the relationship of mindful listening. The power of simply being100% present, not reacting and not even thinking about the emotion that hasarisen is the heart of successful therapy. If you want to change anxiety ordepression, you must establish this kind of relationship in which you allow theemotion to exist in the safe space of mindful awareness. The art is to maintain thismindfulness so that you do not become caught up in the emotion and also that youdo not resist or fight against the emotion; just sit with you inner pain as you wouldsit with a friend in pain. When you have established this mindful-relationship andsafe inner space around the emotion, it will respond by changing. The more presentyou are, the more it will unfold, unwind and transform. This is the unique contribution that mindfulness training can make tofacilitate successful psychotherapy for anxiety and depression. We are taught thatwe have to fix the problem and make the negative thoughts and feelings go away,but actually if we simply learn to be present with them, we create the idealconditions in which inner suffering will transform itself quite naturally and under thehealing influence of our innate intuitive wisdom-intelligence. The answers always liewithin the problem; the trick is to learn to listen, and mindfulness is the perfectionof this skill.